We know that EU migrants come to the UK to work and that they often fill gaps in the labour market – working in low-paid, dirty, dangerous and difficult jobs with unsociable hours that the UK population do not want. Their work makes them more vulnerable to industrial injury and abuse by employers while providing the UK population with affordable produce and care, amongst other services. Removing rights to in-work benefits will not affect migration levels but it will intensify poverty and make integration even more difficult. The 2010 Equality Act notes that it is unlawful to discriminate against, harass, victimise or treat someone less favourably because they have, or are perceived to have, a ‘protected characteristic’. Race is one such characteristic. Discrimination against migrants has been widely described as the new racism. By treating EU migrants less favourably than the general population we discriminate against them. Effectively, we condemn them to live in poverty while they do the work we need but will not do ourselves. Corbyn, it would seem, is offering an alternative political discourse on EU migration that has some foundation in evidence. The concern being expressed about his raising the possibility of discrimination should be seen as controversial, rather than the use of the term itself. Such a response indicates that in the UK moral panic about migration has reached such a level that we have lost sight of some of the gains we made in the last decades around equality and human rights. Responsible politicians would do well to remember these are hard-won gains and to question whether it is morally right to place political expedience over equality. Ignoring potential discrimination is in itself a high-risk strategy: if we make exceptions for EU migrants we might ask – who next?